One song at a time - 28. Kalala Alalapai

(Gulebakavali Katha)

In the last post I spoke about Jaidev, whose talent was not given its due by the film industry. But we have to be thankful that he is still remembered by the connoisseurs today. In certain other unfortunate cases, the song remains in public memory but the memory of the creators has totally slipped into oblivion. One such case is what I will be talking about today.

I first heard the song, 'kalala alalapai', during my hostel days. Those were the days when my room mate Siva and I would have the radio on continuously and keep searching for one station or the other to listen to songs. Other than the usual suspects like 'Vividh Bharathi', we would also tune into Radio Ceylon, which would play Telugu songs. (The role of Radio Ceylon in propagating Indian music is enormous. A big book needs to be written about it.) The signal of Radio Ceylon was never strong and so most of the music we heard on that channel was combined with noise. Inspite of that, we used to enjoy ourselves since the Radio Ceylon folks taste in music cannot be faulted. 'kalala alalapai' was first introduced to be here in midst of all the static.

I have later heard this song multiple times and is a personal favourite of mine. When I wanted to find out who the music director was, I came to know that the music was provided by Joseph and Vijaya Krishnamurthy. Unfortunately I have no clue on who they were and neither was I able to get details from my friends or from the web. Here is a clear case of the music directors completely being erased from public memory. I am sure some of the senior folks would have more details about these music directors. If they do, I request them to share it with us. The only detail I got till now is that they were assistants to the more popular music director, T.V.Raju.

This song, from 'Gulebakavali Katha',  is an excellent one. The whole song and the picturisation reeks of class. I love the way the tune is structured. It has a special lilt to it, as if the music directors wanted us to float on the waves. (That's what the words say.). Added to it, the tune is so delicately structured as if not to disturb a wonderful dream. Thoughtful touches, of instrumentation throughout. CNaRe's lyrics sung with the usual efficiency by Ghantasala and Janaki. Adding to the overall charm is a young NTR. The heroine isn't bad either!! So let's now enjoy this delectable melody and for a minute spare a thought to the wonderful music directors who came up with this tune. Thank you dear sirs. You have added so much joy to our lives.